A favored and valued market class of trees within the landscape and nursery industry is the Japanese Maple. Within this market class is a widely diverse variation of trees, having differences in leaf form, leaf color, canopy density, bark color and texture, and vigor. The outstanding characteristics of these usually include unique leaf forms, alluring leaf colors, and wide ranges of vigor, or combined traits allowing for the maintenance of specimen size over a long period of time without having to heavily prune such specimens with great frequency. Many of the plants within this class of trees may be easily maintained at a small size to fit into a small space, and take on an enhanced character with advancing age, while offering interesting and attractive colors and forms which can be widely applied in appointing a garden landscape. This market class is dominated by the species Acer palmatum, which the skilled artisan respects for the diversity of expression mentioned above.
The tree of this invention was discovered by me as a single, conspicuously unusual plant within a population of seedlings from specimen trees of several varieties of A. palmatum, which I had collected and planted. The seedling was immediately noticeable due to its deep red coloration and white variegated streaks, when compared with the remaining seedlings of the block, and by its unusually but consistent, nonuniform leaf size and shape characteristics. Upon recognition of the notable differences of this seedling, I took steps to retain it for further observation and testing. The new tree was first asexually reproduced by me at my production location in Tallassee, Ala., by grafting and has since been repeatedly so reproduced through a series of generation on seedling Acer palmatum root stock. In observing the clonal progeny, I have determined that the novel and distinctive traits of this new A. palmatum tree, `Beni Shi En` are firmly fixed, true to type, and virtually identical to those of the originally selected tree in every respect.